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Synopsis

Following some – would say unforgivable – choices as Twilight, Angel needed to hide away and wallow in his guilt. But with a little TLC – courtesy of his only remaining ally, Faith, Angel is back to fighting the good fight and taking demons down one by one. With the Watcher files at their disposal, Angel comes up with the ultimate plan for redemption.[1]

Summary

Faith, Nadira, and a squad of slayers are fighting vampires on the street. One has a briefcase and a machine gun, and wounds Nadira's leg when she separates from the group – against Faith's order – to chase him. He is decapitated by Angel before he can do any more damage, but Faith is trying to finish off her own opponent, the demonBaphon, before Nadira can help - because she believes she was too angry to be effective. The demon takes off with his briefcase and the slayers regroup.

They find a bottle of smelly green liquid in the case, and Faith takes it away to ask around, dodging around the issue of who saved Nadira. When she rejoins Angel, she tells him it was stupid to get near someone who wants to kill him, and then confronts him about his crazy idea to bring Giles back from a natural death. They hash out the particulars – Angel claims that the key was in Giles' magic-immersed life, which he hopes would leave a spiritual connection that can allow the soul to be returned to the body.

Faith isn't buying it and Angel can tell, but she does see how this is the only thing motivating his recuperation, and also, as his friend, she doesn't want to abandon him. When Angel's about to leave, weapon in hand, she goes with him, claiming she's just "wingman for a night".

Demontown is a bar where demons are fighting each other for bragging rights, trying to establish a new hierarchy amongst themselves now that magic is gone. Angel finds a demon called Kurth and asks him about business - specifically, his business of "selling body parts to rich scumbags". Kurth corrects him, saying they'd moved on to a higher class of business, but wouldn't say more, so Faith attacks him, and a full-on bar fight breaks out.

Faith and Angel leave bruised and bloody and Kurth appears to have escaped, but Angel said he can track him by scent. As they hunt him down, Faith shows some concern about the way Angel didn't seem to feel anything when he fought. They find Kurth meeting up with Baphon, asking him for a "dose." The demon gives him the green vial and he pours it over his back, and his third arm - which Angel ripped off during the fight - instantly grows back. Faith and Angel observe, unseen, from the rooftop.

Angel explains Mohra blood to Faith, touching briefly on his own experience with it , but focusing on how it can be used to restore Giles' body. He asks if she is with him after which they leap into the lair brandishing their weapons. Angel says that Baphon's power is in its horns, so he lops them off, and Faith thinks about how excited his new purpose - and her apparent cooperation - is making him.

Faith accidentally incinerates the table holding the Mohra blood, but Angel says there must be more where that came from, because it deteriorates when exposed to open air, so the dealers must be getting it fresh. He pins the hornless Baphon against a wall and demands to know where they get it, and he says he will tell.

Faith remembers a conversation she had with Giles, not so long ago. She was looking for a way to bring back the man she killed - Professor Worth, not the Deputy Mayor - and he told her would know if there was a way, and there wasn't. He also dispensed some wisdom about guilt and atonement. Back in the present, Faith hopes that she can keep Angel out of trouble, but she doesn't try to convince him that he's on a fool's errand.

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Quotes

Angel - "If I avoided people who want to kill me, I'd never leave the house."

Angel - "Faith, I know you think I lost it. That's okay. I don't need you to believe me. But I do need your help."

Faith - [thoughts] "He thinks he can fix the worst thing he ever did. I convince him he's wrong, I take away his reason to exist."

Angel - "Just come with me. For now. Give me a chance to show you it can work."

Faith - [thoughts] "But what's my Plan B? Walk away? Or ride shotgun on his crazy train? I just got my life back together. What happens when he goes off the rails? Except he was there for my crash and burns. Pulling me from the wreckage when everyone else was toasting marshmallows. What kind of friend would I be if I'm not there for his?"

Faith - "Okay, I missed an episode. These guys are selling juice that grows back people's arms?"

Angel - "Not just arms. That was the blood of a Mohra Demon. It can regenerate any organ. Any wound. Even necrotic tissue."

Faith - "You saying it could raise the dead? Ain't that kind of a leap?"

Angel - "I've seen Mohra blood bring a dead body to life. Mine."

Faith - "I missed a whole damn season."

Angel - "It made me human again... Made me normal... I undid it. I can't do what I have to if I'm... Y'know what, it's not important. The point is, it works."

Faith - "Screw the deputy Mayor. The time I did was enough for a sleazoid like that. I don't even think about him."

Faith - "You and everyone else. Except me. And his daughter. Even with Sunnydale just a hole in the ground, she still visits. Drops flowers in."

Giles - "Faith ... I could make excuses. Say that you were mentally unstable when you killed him. But it wouldn't change the fact that you killed an innocent man. It likely also will not help to know that there are others who live with the same guilt. There are things we can't undo. Mistakes we can't unmake. We can punish ourselves for them in pointless, indulgent ways. Acts that serve no purpose beyond wallowing in self-pity. Or we can try and atone for them. Not to erase what we did. Not to justify the unjustifiable. But to counter the evil we've done with a lifetime of good."

Faith - [thoughts] "I tell Angel he's nuts, he goes off on his own. A lose cannon. Aimed at himself. Figured I'd go along ... keep him out of trouble 'till I can find a way to make him give up this snipe hunt. But he's not gonna. Angel's saved the world five or six times. Spent two lifetimes doing good. He made up for what he did to Giles before he ever did it. But he's still a vampire with a soul. A monster who hates himself for being a monster. He's never gonna let himself off the hook. Unless I make him."